The State of Compliance Survey - 2021
Compliance functions continue to remain under pressure amidst ongoing regulatory change. To understand the current state of compliance and the emerging trends Compliance functions face, we surveyed senior Compliance professionals in the Financial Services and Non-Financial Services industry.
The responses from the 2021 survey highlight that the capacity of Compliance functions has continued to reduce as a result of the ongoing need to manage additional regulatory obligations whilst staying on top of existing requirements. Not surprisingly, there was a continued expectation that headcount would increase, but also an interest in Regulatory Technology (RegTech) which uses technology to enhance compliance processes.
Compliance functions play a pivotal role within an organisation and should continue to adapt and evolve as business strategies, regulatory requirements and societal expectations change.
Deloitte surveyed senior Compliance professionals, to gain a perspective on the challenges. The 2021 survey included four key questions:
- What is the role of the Compliance function, and do they have the capacity/capability to meet their responsibilities?
- What is the state of a compliance culture in organisations and how much work is left to do?
- How are Compliance functions leveraging Reg-Tech solutions to assist with their activities?
- Are Compliance functions aware of the new ISO Standard 37301, if so, will they be seeking certification?
The importance of a positive compliance culture continues to be front of mind for organisations as this is a key step to driving better customer outcomes.
The continuing emergence of RegTech has led Compliance functions to leverage automated solutions and increase their data capabilities as part of a push towards continuous improvement and effectiveness.
Organisations have also outsourced some of their responsibilities to third-party providers as there is an increased need for capacity to manage ongoing responsibility for regulatory requirements.
This raises the question of how Compliance functions can effectively and efficiently enable their organisations to meet the obligations and societal expectations?
The aim of this Survey was to help understand the key strengths of Compliance functions in terms of capabilities and the areas for improvement. Additionally, this survey helps gain an understanding how Compliance functions are using Reg-Tech solutions and industry awareness of the new ISO Standard 37301:2021 Compliance Management Systems.
